Record Store Day comes to North Jersey
Record Store Day comes to North Jersey
BY JIM BECKERMAN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Steam locomotives have their fans in the jet age. Book lovers thrive in a Kindle world. But the staunchest of the old technology junkies may be the fans of vinyl records.
Proof? Check out today's Record Store Day event in independent area record stores.
"A 25-year-old kid never went into a store that sold records," says Irv Lukin, owner of EZ2collect in Fair Lawn.
Even now, two generations away – with CDs losing the fight to downloads – there are music lovers who will tell you that nothing beats a needle in a groove for warmth, for personality, for "authenticity."
"An MP3 is convenient, but they don't sound great," Lukin says. "They sound like the radio. If you're into music, and all of a sudden somebody plays you a record, it just sounds better."
The sheer force of this conviction has brought about a bit of a vinyl renaissance: Bands like The White Stripes, Mumford & Sons and Phish have released "vinyl" editions of their albums in recent years, and sales of vinyl records and turntables have picked up.
Since 2008, Record Store Day has been encouraging music lovers to rediscover the long-lost worlds of the LP and 45 – and not coincidentally, the surviving independent record stores that deal in them. Many – not all — participating stores today (there are some 40 in New Jersey, and 700 nationwide) will feature special entertainment events, promotions, sales and special vinyl and CD releases.
For more information, see recordstoreday.com.